Foreign Medical Study

In deciding to attend a foreign medical school, which presents an awesome challenge, you should be very certain that (1) you cannot gain admission to a U.S. allopathic or osteopathic school, (2) you are not interested in an alternative career in the health sciences, and (3) you have adequate financial support. Electing to study outside of this country is a major decision and selecting a school to attend represents another critical hurdle.

Careful planning and investigation of all the issues should be made before you make any commitments. As a component of your planning, you should determine how best to meet the foreign language requirements (where necessary) that will enable you to properly secure your medical education and training. Only a few schools that accept foreign students teach in English (such as those in the Philippines, Israel, and the Caribbean). By examining catalogs, you should seek to determine how the course of studies at an overseas school compares with that at a typical U.S. school. There should be an attempt to secure information about the quality of the education and the adequacy of the clinical facilities, which are critical to be able to succeed in a residency. This information may come from students who have been or are currently in attendance at the school in question. They (or their families) can provide useful information concerning the nature of the housing and cost of living expenses at their particular foreign school. A key piece of information is how well U.S. students perform after attending the foreign medical schools in question. Also, insight can be secured by finding out how U.S. citizens perform on the ECFMG. It should be realized that this data cannot be taken without allowing for a number of variables, such as the quality of the students in each country, the number of times the exam was taken, the time lapse between taking the exam and completing one's education, and other factors, such as the total number of applicants taking the exam.